


Never Him

by camcatwriter



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Angst, Crushes Revealed, Homophobic comments, M/M, Minor Violence, some shoving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 08:18:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17076713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camcatwriter/pseuds/camcatwriter
Summary: TJ can handle his jerk of a teammate being mean to him, but what he can't handle is when Cyrus gets caught in the middle.





	Never Him

**Author's Note:**

  * For [patroclustic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/patroclustic/gifts).



> This is my first Tyrus fanfic, and it's for the Friendom Secret Santa 2018 exchange, so hopefully it lives up to the hype :)

TJ swung open his basketball locker. He pulled his shirt over his head, folding it loosely and tossing it to the back. His text ringtone went off- probably Cyrus. Unable to suppress the fond smile that crossed his face at the thought of the sweet boy, TJ tugged his jersey over his head. He was pretty sure he had a crush on Cyrus, but he wasn't even really sure that Cyrus was even gay. Pulling out his phone, he confirmed that it was, in fact, Cyrus.

 _Hey, want to meet up after practice?  I can wait for you if you want._ TJ grinned at his phone stupidly.

_sounds great :)_

He put his phone on silent and tossed it in his locker, shutting it and turning around to put on his sneakers. The moment he turned away from his locker, he realized how quiet it had gotten. Confused, TJ looked up to see the whole team looking at him, a few of them smirking. Griffin nodded to TJ's locker.

"Who were you texting, Kippen? Your...  _girlfriend_?" Griffin wiggled his eyebrows. TJ rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"No." He sat and tugged on his sneakers. He hoped Griffin would just drop it, but of course that was too much to ask.

"What, are you gay or something?" Griffin snickered, nudging his friends.

"You know what? Gay isn't an insult, so shut up." TJ turned to leave, but Griffin called after him, of course.

"What, so you  _are_ gay?" TJ took a deep breath and turned around.

"Not that it's any of your business, but," he thought about Cyrus. "But yeah, I am." He looked at the rest of the team. "Now let's go, we've got drills to run."

* * *

They'd barely gotten practice going before Griffin started up again. 

"So were you texting your  _boyfriend_ then, Kippen?"

TJ sighed. "I'm not talking to you about this, get back to your drill."

* * *

Finally, after six or seven interruptions from Griffin throughout the practice, TJ gratefully headed back into the locker room, eager to shower off and change. He spun his combination lock and grabbed his clothes, shutting the door. Suddenly, he was slammed into the bank of lockers. Pain spread through his shoulder, and he spun around, holding his most-likely-bruised arm. Griffin was standing there, smirking.

"What is your problem?!" TJ threw his hands up. The team was pointedly not looking at them, and TJ was getting really annoyed.

Griffin just shrugged. "Problem? There's no problem." 

TJ just glared at him. "Clearly, there is." He went, showered off quickly and got changed, hoping Griffin would get over it.

* * *

Griffin didn't get over it. The next day at practice, Griffin was already leaning against TJ's locker when he showed up to the locker room. Griffin smirked when TJ approached and TJ fought the urge to shove him out of the way. 

"Got a boyfriend yet, Kippen? Having fun being gay?"

TJ sighed and ignored him, changing into his uniform and heading out to start practice. 

And, of course, Griffin's obnoxious comments continued through practice, much to TJ's annoyance. 

* * *

After three or four days of Griffin and of getting shoved into the lockers after practice, TJ was getting really frustrated. He'd hoped Griffin would get over it, but he hadn't. 

But the next day was what really tipped TJ over the edge. 

* * *

TJ had been been leaving the locker room first for the last few days, partially to make sure he and Cyrus were gone before the rest of the team came out, and partially to avoid Griffin. But today, Coach had needed to talk to him, leaving TJ as the last one to leave the locker room. Hopefully Cyrus hadn't been waiting for too long. 

As TJ walked towards his locker, he could see a small crowd of people, but as he got closer, he realized with a sinking feeling that it was the team, and he could hear Griffin talking loudly. 

"Huh, you're waiting for Kippen? You know he's gay, right? Oh wait, you must be his weak little boyfriend." TJ saw, almost as though in slow motion, Griffin shove Cyrus into another teammate. TJ walked up and grabbed Griffin by his collar, seething with anger.

"Enough, Griffin."

Griffin just smirked. "What are you gonna do? You're weak, Kippen, you don't deserve to be team captain."

TJ maintained eye contact. "I don't care if you want to make fun of me. I don't care if you want to shove me into the lockers every day for the rest of the season. I don't care if you call me weak, and I don't care what you think of me: whatever helps you sleep at night. But hear me when I say, you will not do that to him." TJ lowered his voice almost to a growl, hardening his glare. " _Never him_." Griffin was pale by the time TJ finished talking, and when TJ let go of his collar, he hurried away, glancing back as though he was worried about TJ following him.

Satisfied that Griffin was gone, TJ allowed himself to breathe normally again, and the adrenaline started to wear off. He took a deep breath and suddenly he realized that he didn't know if Cyrus was okay. He turned to see Cyrus clutching his backpack off to one side, a strange expression on his face. TJ's heart sank. Cyrus was probably scared of him now, he'd probably just ruined their entire friendship. He shot Cyrus a weak smile and took off at a quick walk, not wanting to hear Cyrus, sweet as he was, try to tell TJ he didn't want to be friends anymore.

"TJ, wait!"

TJ stopped in his tracks, but didn't dare turn around, didn't dare say anything.

"Are you... Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Sweet Cyrus, always worrying about everyone else first. TJ could handle himself. Instead of answering his question, TJ turned to look at him slowly. "I should be asking you that, since it's my fault this even happened."

Cyrus's forehead crinkled and he frowned sharply. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall you being the one to fix that situation." He approached TJ and laid a hand on his arm. "I'm fine, I didn't get hurt or anything, it was just the one guy anyway."

TJ dragged a hand down his cheek, finally looking Cyrus in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

Cyrus grabbed TJ's shoulders. "It's not your fault, TJ, I don't understand why you think it is. I was alone, waiting at your locker, of course that was going to make me a bit of a target, but-"

"He only went after you because he found out I was gay! Because I told him, because I didn't stand up to him earlier and tell him to knock it off, because I wasn't there to stop him, he pushed you around, and you don't deserve that just because you were standing by my locker!" TJ exploded. "And if I didn't have a crush on you he wouldn't have figured out I was gay in the first place and then this wouldn't have even happened!" Cyrus was stunned into silence. TJ sighed. "So yeah, it's my fault. Making fun of  _me_ , mocking  _me_ , shoving  _me_ into lockers, that's fine-"

"No, it really isn't-" Cyrus tried to cut him off, but TJ just kept talking.

"-but not you, I can't let him do that to you when it's my problem and it's my fault." TJ didn't look Cyrus in the eye. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I put you in danger like that, I'm sorry that I couldn't keep him from being such a jerk, and I'm sorry to put you in this position at all." He got quieter and quieter until he could barely force the words out.

Silence. 

"TJ, I forgive you, even though I don't think you did anything wrong. Why don't you tell me what happened, from the beginning."

* * *

 

When TJ had finished his story, Cyrus tilted his head in thought.

"I... I think that... I think that this is as good a... as good a time as any." He breathed deeply. "TJ, I really like you, I have for weeks now. I'm sorry you've been dealing with this, and I wish I'd known. But thank you for sticking up for me."

TJ smiled, trying to ignore the blush he felt threatening to overtake his entire face. "You're... you're welcome, Underdog."

 

**Author's Note:**

> ahhhh I hope that was alright? I'm not very experienced in writing angst(as in this is my first mostly angsty fic) so I'm not quite sure how to feel about it. Hope you like it!


End file.
